Petitioners to seek Comelec reconsideration on Bongbong COC ruling

A group of petitioners on Monday urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to review its decision junking the petition that sought to cancel the candidacy of presidential aspirant Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. in Eleksyon 2022.

In a Monday statement, Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim said that their lawyers, led by Attorney Theodore Te, were seeking reconsideration of the resolution with the Comelec En Banc after the Comelec Second Division said Marcos' representations in his certificate of candidacy (COC), which the petitioners had questioned, were "not false."

Lim, who is also a board chair of Kapatid-Families and Friends of Political Prisoners, was among those who filed the petition along with Fr. Christian Buenafe, co-chairperson of Task Force Detainees; Ma. Edeliza Hernandez, executive director of the Medical Action Group; Celia Lagman Sevilla, secretary-general of the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance; Roland Vibal Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates; and Josephine Lascano, executive director of the Balay Rehabilitation Center.

They argued that Marcos' tax conviction in the 1990s disqualified him from running for public office.

Lim noted that it was “very strange and contradictory” that the Second Division denied their petition, but agreed that the representations made in Item 11 of Box 22 of Marcos' COC were “material.”

She stressed that their petition stated that Marcos’ COC should be canceled as he “falsely” declared under oath in paragraph 11 under Box 22 of his COC that he was “eligible for the office” he seeks to be elected to.

She said that this material representation was “false” because Marcos was convicted by final judgment by both the Regional Trial Court and Court of Appeals for failure to pay and file income tax returns for the years 1982, 1983, and 1984 when he served as vice governor and governor of Ilocos Norte.

“These court judgments make him ineligible to hold any public office, least of all the highest office of the land. We cannot have a liar, cheat, and convicted tax evader making fools of us all as he claws his way to the presidency while lying through his teeth,” Lim said.

On the other hand, farmers group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said that while they were dismayed by the Comelec division's ruling, they were not surprised by it.

“We will be vigilant of the remaining disqualification cases against Marcos Jr. We insist that plunderers such as the Marcoses have no place in our ballot,” KMP National Chairperson Danilo Ramos said.

They added that they were confident that Marcos would be “rejected by the people” should his presidential candidacy push through.

Marcos' camp earlier thanked the Comelec "for upholding the law and the right of every bona fide candidate like Bongbong Marcos to run for public office free from any form of harassment and discrimination." — DVM, GMA News